The Story of CP6
by Mr Khan
Summary: An AU story: Robin recruits the crew to destroy the poneglyphs. Action, adventure, nakamaship, and a healthy dose of Robin characterization
1. Abducted!

Abducted! The Formation of CP6

By Mr_Khan

_The inspiration for this story came from the filler arc in the anime that came after the Davy Back Fight Arc, where all of the Straw Hats except for Robin lose their memories to a predatory, memory-sucking seahorse. Their memories were restored to the point immediately before they joined the Straw Hats, and the clash of their undeveloped personalities was intriguing. Equally enjoyable was Robin's momentary run as leader of the crew. So I developed this tangent. In the more contemporary jargon, it's somewhat AU. It's also my first foray into One Piece fanfiction, with my previous efforts engaged over in SWAT Kats._

All of a sudden, the ship lurched, and Nami awoke. She felt stiff, as though she had been asleep for a long, long time, but that couldn't have been. She had gone to sleep, knowing that Arlong needed her up bright and early for some purpose best known to him. She rolled out of bed, landing on the floor, and felt around for the lantern. It definitely wasn't where she had left it. She staggered forward past the end of the bed, to where the door was supposed to be, and ran headlong into solid wall. The ship rolled again on a swell, and the full realization that she was not where she was supposed to be hit her. It was fully dark in her room, and she scrabbled around in panic until her hand clasped a doorknob. Her momentary hopes were dashed when she could not turn the knob. "Hey!" she yelled. "Let me out, pirate scum! You don't know who you're dealing with!" She banged her fists on the door in her impotent rage. "Let me out!"

In the next cabin over, Sanji slept undisturbed. His cabin was furnished with a hammock, so he had slept right through the waves that had begun to jolt the ship. He heard Nami's rage, muffled through the wall. He grinned in his sleep, thinking that he was still dreaming. "I'll let you out, mes amour!" He reached out with his arms and legs, and overbalanced, falling out of the hammock. "Gah!"

Nami heard the noise. "Hey! I know you're out there! Let me out!"

Sanji, now fully awake, looked around and immediately knew something was wrong. His cabin, unlike Nami's, had a porthole, and was lit by the dawn streaming in from outside. _"Whoa,"_ he wondered_, "where am I?"_ He looked around, and found he had been provided with cigarettes. Cheap cigarettes, to be sure, but they were no worse than he was used to. He had picked one out, and was just about to light it, when Nami yelled again.

"Come on! Let me out!"

"_Whoever brought me here really knows me,"_ thought Sanji. _"A pack of smokes and a damsel in distress. If they have a restaurant, I'll be set."_ He walked over to the door and discovered that his, like Nami's, was locked. This did not discourage him, as one swift kick shot the door out into the hall. He poked his head out the door, and seeing nobody around, stepped out into the hall and toward the next door.

Nami heard the doorknob rattle, and her nerve momentarily failed her. She gasped, then lunged behind the bed, hoping to avoid the wrath of her captors. The knob rattled again, then the door flew in. The sudden influx of light momentarily dazzled her, but she saw that whoever it was, there was only one of them. She regained her nerve, and she lunged at the shadowy figure she saw in the door.

The red-headed angel's tackle took Sanji completely by surprise, though his quick wit soon came up with something appropriate for the situation. "Hey, I know you're grateful, but slow down, Cherie, we haven't even been introduced yet." His advances were met with a fist.

"Pervert!" Nami yelled. "Don't think you just get to have your way with me, filthy pirate! Now take me off this ship!"

"_She's so beautiful when she's angry,"_ Sanji thought. The girl raised her fist again for another strike. In a split-second, he had a leg braced against her poised arm. "Slow down, baby. I'm not the one who brought you here. I don't know where I am, either." The effect of those words on this girl was instantaneous and highly effective.

Nami had an instinct for manipulation, and as soon as the strange, straw-haired man had identified himself as a friend, she gave him what she called the "doe eyes," large, watery, and infinitely endearing. "Then can you help a poor girl find her way out?"

"Yessss!" said Sanji, a long, protracted exclamation of joy. Apparently from out of nowhere, he pulled out a rose and clutched it in his mouth, then knelt down before her. "Sanji, your knight in shining armor, at your service, milady."

She shook the hand he offered and smiled awkwardly. "Nami," she said. "_What a dork"_, she thought. She then noticed something behind Sanji, and pointed. "What's that?" She indicated a place where a door had once been, but now there was only a hole in the wall, badly slashed and damaged.

"I don't know," Sanji mused. "Probably somebody with an anger problem." He shrugged. "Now come, Nami-swan! We run to freedom!" He took Nami by the arm, and the two of them started running down the hall. Sanji led, turning a corner. He tripped and fell headlong over something, and Nami stopped short.

"What the hell?" Sanji roared. He turned around, lying prone on the ground, and he saw that he had tripped over a man in a deep stupor, snoring uproariously. A man with a well-toned body, scar-carved face, and mossy green hair. Next to him lay a katana and a pair of cutlasses, as well as an empty tankard that stank of ale.

"Oi, Marimo, wake up!" Sanji shouted, kicking at the man's face. The man's eyes opened.

Roronoa Zoro did not know where he was, but he did not particularly care. He had woken up, trapped in a dark room. He broke out of the room, found a single katana outside the door, and a pair of cutlasses on a rack nearby. He tried the swords on the door-hole, and satisfied with them, he walked down the hall. He was, however, quickly distracted by a barrel of ale he found. He drank deeply, and then fell asleep on the floor, thinking that he would figure out where he was later. Again, he wasn't particularly disturbed by the fact that he had woken up in a strange place. This sort of thing seemed to happen to him fairly often. He was, however, very much bothered by this straw-haired bastard who was kicking him.

"Oi!" he growled. "Quit kicking me! What did I do to you?"

"What are you doing sleeping on the ground like that, huh?" Sanji asked, continuing to kick him. "Who do you work with?"

"Quit kicking me!" Zoro replied. He leapt to his feet, grabbing his three swords. He grasped the katana in his mouth, then held the two cutlasses in each hand. Zoro was pleased with the result of this. The straw-haired punk gasped, and took a step back, and his red-headed companion did likewise.

Once again, Nami's nerve had failed her. She had gotten out of her prison, and she had been on her way out of the hold. But now… _"It's the pirate hunter; Roronoa Zoro! What am I going to do?"_ Just for a moment, she stood paralyzed. She was at a complete loss, and so grasped at the first, desperate solution she could think of. She screamed, a loud, piercing sound which threw both Zoro and Sanji off balance. She then bolted right past the Pirate Hunter and back towards the opening to the deck.

"Nami-swan is so cute when she's scared!" the straw-haired punk yelled with joy.

"Guess it's just you and me, then," Zoro said with a grim satisfaction. He slashed out with one of the cutlasses, but Sanji leapt out of the way and started running after Nami. Zoro chased him down the hall. He wasn't going to kill this bastard, just scare him a bit. Something about him just rubbed Zoro the wrong way. They finally reached the stairs leading up to the light, and Sanji leapt out. Zoro jumped to pursue him, but suddenly was caught. Four slender, brown-skinned arms had appeared from the doorway and caught a firm hold of him. These arms were stronger than such slender arms should be. Two caught his neck while two clasped at his chest.

"Please don't kill him, Swordsman-san," said a voice. Zoro looked around, and saw a wide deck-space. In the midst of the deck, the red-headed girl stood on the far side, a mark of fear on her face. The straw-haired punk now stood calmly, and stuck his tongue out impudently. Zoro raged, but he was firmly held in place. He cast about, and saw a few others. There was a black-haired boy with a sleeveless shirt and a straw hat. There were also two others, hiding in different corners: a strange-looking young-man with a long nose, and an even stranger creature that looked like a pygmy reindeer or a tanooki, but there was definitely humanity in its eyes. "I need all of you healthy and strong," the woman said.

"And just who the hell are you?" Zoro asked.

"Oi!" the straw hat kid yelled. "You be nice to Robin-Oneechan!"

Nico Robin smiled at Monkey D. Luffy in gratitude.

"My name is Nico Robin," the woman said. "Now that you're all present, I can explain why you're here." She looked over at the long-nosed boy and the reindeer. "Come on out, you two." Robin crossed her arms and focused, then two arms popped up behind both of the people in hiding, grabbing them and forcibly shunting them out into the open. The arms holding Zoro also tossed him forward, but grabbed his swords away as they did. "First, I suppose some introductions are in order," she turned and looked at the boy with the straw hat. "Captain-san?"

"Wait," Sanji said, "This guy's a captain?"

Robin gave him a dismissive smile, "please don't interrupt."

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy!" Straw-hat said eagerly. "Robin Oneechan rescued me from a huuuuge whirlpool," (he used his arms to emphasize the vast size of the whirlpool). "Then she said I was going to be a Captain!"

Robin crossed her arms again, proclaiming "Quatre Fleur!" suddenly four arms sprouted out of Luffy's torso. Everyone in attendance gasped at the marvel.

"Coooool!" Luffy said, "I'm a spider!"

"Grab!" Robin said, and the four arms clutched Luffy's body and neck firmly. Everyone's shock deepened. "Twist!" she shouted, and suddenly she twisted Luffy's body around, a number of times. Sanji and Zoro gasped, Nami and the tanuki screamed. The long-nosed boy bolted for the other side of the deck, and returned to his hiding spot. The tan arms retracted, and Luffy's body spun around quickly, returning to its original state.

"How did you do that?" Sanji asked, shocked.

Luffy grabbed his own cheek, and stretched it out until it was over two feet in length. "I ate the gum-gum fruit," he said.

"_A devil fruit user?"_ Nami thought. _"This Nico Robin has to have that kind of power, too. What am I caught up in?" _

"Luffy is going to be the Captain of our little venture," Robin said.

"Wait," Nami interjected. "What venture?"

Robin again smiled dismissively, "I'll get to that soon." She turned to Zoro, "Samurai-san?"

"Roronoa Zoro," he grunted.

"I think we know that much," Sanji scoffed.

"Bastard!" Zoro growled.

"Please, continue," Robin said.

Zoro seemed temporarily at a loss. "Uh. I'm a swordsman. I'm going to be the best in the world. Whatever it takes, I'll do it to get there."

Robin nodded pleasantly. "Navigator-san?"

Nami, still scared, looked about meekly upon the summons. "Me?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, please," Robin replied.

"My name is Nami, I'm a thief and a navigator" she said, then her voice took on a stern tone. "And I'm not working for a bunch of damn pirates!"

"We're not pirates, Navigator-san," Robin replied?

"Huh?" Luffy cut in. "But Oneechan, I wanna be a pirate!"

"I'll explain," Robin assured them. "Long nose-kun?" The man with the long nose snuck out of his hiding place, and struck a regal pose.

"I, I am the great Usopp! I am the tyrant of the East Blue! You all are going to suffer! I have an army of 8,000 followers, and we are known for our terrifying tactics! I am the greatest inventor the East Blue has ever seen, and my ability as an inventor is surpassed only by my ability as a marksman!" He said this all very fast, and very loud.

"The first sentence was true, the second and third were lies, the fourth and fifth were mostly true," Robin amended. Usopp's jaw dropped, then his knees shook, and he stalked back into hiding. Robin turned to Sanji, who, for the first time, really took a good look at her.

"Gwah!" his jaw dropped, and his eyes watered. Once again, a rose came from wherever he had it stowed. "Hello, Madame. I am Sanji, and never before have I seen a beauty like yours,"

Nami snorted.

"I am a chef extraordinaire. Say but a word, and I shall delight you with the best of fare." He put the rose away, and stood there, entranced. "May I call you Robin-chan? Robin-chwan? Robin-chwan!" he yelled, as if testing out his newly devised pet name.

Again, Robin smiled patiently, "Just Robin, please." Robin walked across the deck and leaned down, staring down the strange pygmy reindeer at eye level. "Come on out, Doctor-san."

"Eh? Doctor?" queried Sanji, who walked around to get a closer look. Nami also wandered over to take a look.

"Ohh! A little doctor! Kawaii!" she squealed in joy. Then the little reindeer did something quite strange indeed. He slowly capered out of his hiding-spot, a joyous activity, but what spilled forth from his mouth…

"Human! Asshole! Don't try to impress me! Asshole, asshole!" It was an intense contrast, between the joy in his movements and the loathsome words coming out of his mouth. "Yeah I'm a doctor, alright? Yeah, I'm a reindeer! My name is Tony Tony Chopper, and you humans better step off! I won't have anything to do with you!"

"Look at his little hat!" Nami said, apparently oblivious to Chopper's hate-speech. "So cute!"

"Yes," Robin agreed, "very cute. Also a very able physician." Chopper's expression softened, and he blushed in spite of himself.

"So," Robin said. "Now you've been introduced to the other members of Cipher Pol 6."

"Cipher Pol 6?" Nami asked, "What's that?"

"You've been observed for a long time by government agents. Our agents have determined that, together, the 6 of you, along with me, will form a team capable of performing special missions that others could not comprehend."

"And what exactly is that?" asked Zoro.

"I am the last living descendant of the Ohara colony," Robin said, "a colony which could decipher the poneglyphs, the ancient scripts which tell the true history. The true history is a danger to our modern way of life, but only I can read it. I know the scope of the threat that the true history can pose to the world, and I have volunteered to go around the world and destroy the last remaining poneglyphs. But the poneglyphs are hidden in strange places all over the world, and I need a top team to help me."

"Wait wait wait," Sanji interrupted. "Does that mean I have to work with this marimo?"

"Oi!" Zoro countered, "You wanna go right now?"

"Yeah!" Sanji retaliated, and in an instant the two were squared off against each other, and rage was in their eyes, but then Robin's arms appeared again, restraining the two of them.

"You will, of course, be paid well. Very well," Robin continued. At this, Nami perked up. "You will also have claim of any treasures you find as we search out the poneglyphs." Nami abandoned all restraint, and shouted for joy. She ran over and hugged the older woman.

"I'll follow you, Robin Oneechan!"

Upon seeing them hugging, Sanji melted to his knees. "This must be a gift from heaven," he thought. He stood to his feet "Yesssss!" He yelled again, "I will follow Nami-swan and Robin-chwan!"

"We'll face a lot of powerful foes in our travels, too. An intense challenge of people determined to allow this heresy to exist. Great warriors determined to fight for the poneglyph."

Zoro yawned. "I guess. If it means food in my stomach and a challenge for my swords, I might as well go for it," he walked over and joined Robin, Nami, and Sanji.

"And of course, we'll have to go all over the world. A global adventure, filled with danger and glory, and that could eventually lead us as far away as Raftel, the place of One Piece." This last statement secured the affections of Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy.

"One Piece?" Luffy asked, "So I can be king of the pirates if I do this?"

"Sure," Robin said, "If you think you're up to it."

"Yosh!" Luffy said confidently, "then we'll do it!"

The other five said as one, "you don't speak for us!"

"Does that mean you won't come?" Luffy asked, making a sad face. The other five hung their heads, knowing that their reason had been overcome by their sensibilities. Despite the fact that they all had good reasons, great reasons, for turning this down, the romance, the adventure, the rich rewards, were far too compelling. They were all going to do it, but that didn't mean that they were going to be pleasant about it.

"So," asked Sanji, "am I going to have to deal with this guy every day, or what?"

"That's it!" Zoro bellowed, "I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Oi!" Usopp yelled. "There's a ship coming! Pirates!" he yelled. Again, he leapt back into the hiding space he had claimed on the corner of the deck.

"Pirates!" Chopper yelled, and suddenly morphed into a full-scale reindeer, charging around in a panic. Approaching them was a huge pirate ship which dwarfed the smaller, unmarked ship they were currently sailing on. The ship's head was a gargantuan, stylized fox, and a similar design marked the mainsail, with the word "FOXY" adorning the mainsail in appropriately huge letters. The ship pulled up next to them, and the newly-christened CP6 readied for battle.

"Ahoy there, unmarked ship!" a voice came from the pirate ship. "Prepare to be boarded!" A truly flamboyant figure leapt off the higher deck of the other ship and landed squarely on their deck. He had an unbuttoned pink long-coat which showed his chest, a none-too-flattering sight given his pear-shaped figure. He had a long nose that put Usopp's to shame, a veritable pink beak. On top of it all was the most ridiculous hairdo, split right down the middle. "I am the legendary Silver Fox, Foxy! Commander of the undefeated Foxy Pirates and Captain of the Sexy Foxy! Now, unmarked ship, meet the crew that'll defeat you!"

The crew was appropriately as strange as their Captain. First, some sort of Ape-man leapt off the craft, and declared himself. "Hamburg." He was followed by a blue-haired young woman with an impudent look on her face. "Porche." Then another ape-man, larger than the first, but with less pronounced features. "Pickles," and finally a truly alarming figure leapt off the larger ship and straight into the sea, so massive that he was able to plant both feet on the sea floor (since they were near to an island), and still stand tall, looking down at the two crews now assembled on deck. "Big Pan."

Foxy sized up his potential opponents on deck. It seemed as though the black-haired woman had some sort of air of command about her, so he approached her, jabbing a gun in her face. "I am going to challenge you and your pirate crew to the ancient and vaunted tradition of the Davy Back Fight!"

"We're not pirates," Robin said, clearly somewhat annoyed by this strange figure.

"What?" Foxy yelled in shock.

"We're not pirates," Robin affirmed. "We're with the world government."

"What?!?" Foxy's shock deepened. For a second, he pondered what to do, then he made a strange sign with his free hand (the one not holding the gun). He pointed his hand squarely at Robin, and shouted "Noro Noro Beam!" Robin reacted, but not quick enough. Her arms had begun to cross, but she was struck by a strange pink light, and suddenly froze solid. "We can't let you go running around, then," Foxy concluded. He motioned his companions, "Oi, get 'em!"

Luffy was shocked at this sudden attack. It contradicted his notions of noble pirates that he had cultivated as a youth from observing Shanks. This unprovoked attack on Robin Oneechan certainly didn't sit well with him. Not at all. Thus he reacted quickly and punitively. "Gum Gum Pistol!" he shouted, and lashed a fist out that reached around the paralyzed Robin and smacked Foxy neatly in the face. Foxy flew right off the deck and landed back on the deck of his ship.

"Oyabin!" his crewmates yelled in unison.

"You're gonna pay for that, Straw-hat!" yelled Hamburg in particular. Hamburg, however, set his sights on Usopp, who panicked and fled. Pickles set his sight on Chopper, who equally panicked. Porche pulled out a number of Shuriken that were tipped with roses, and winged a few at Luffy, who dodged out of the way. Big Pan, in a rage, started slapping the deck of the ship with his huge hands, causing everyone to bounce about as the ship rocked.

Usopp ran up the mainmast, and Hamburg stopped short. "Come on down!" he yelled, and then began shaking the mainmast.

"Oi!" Usopp yelled. "You better stop! When I'm being chased, I become a terrifying monster!"

Hamburg giggled.

"I'm serious!" Usopp yelled, "I can make you bleed just by staring at you!"

Hamburg fell into full-on laughter, clutching his sides and lying on the deck, closing his eyes in mirth. Usopp acted quickly to take advantage of this, whipping out a slingshot and firing a few packets of ketchup at Hamburg's prostrate form.

"Usopp Death Stare!" Usopp proclaimed. Hamburg briefly stopped laughing to look at himself. Then he screamed, and started running the other way. He ran past Sanji, who gave him a square kick in the rear, sending him flying back onto the deck of the Sexy Foxy. Then Sanji leapt deftly out of the way to avoid a karate chop from Big Pan which put a dent in the deck.

"Oi, Marimo," he said calmly. Zoro shot him a look as he ran around trying to retrieve his swords. "Let's take this brute down."

"Alright, Love Cook," Zoro responded. "Truce for now." Now fully equipped, Zoro stepped into position next to Sanji. They jumped out of the way of another sweeping chop from Big Pan, then leapt up towards his face. Sanji delivered a crushing kick to Big Pan's jaw, while Zoro slashed right below his eyes, and Big Pan then fell backwards, hitting the side of the Sexy Foxy as willing hands descended to try and lug his immense bulk back on board.

"Iyahh! Big Pan!" Porche shouted in dismay. "I'll get those brutes!" She reached down to her hip for more of her Shuriken, but found them all missing. Standing next to her, she found Nami, waving her pouch full of shuriken around. She stuck her tongue out impudently. "Don't think you can get away with this, bitch!" Porche growled, all pretense dropped. Then all of a sudden she was bowled over by Pickles' flying bulk. On the other side of the deck, you could see Chopper, now in full reindeer form, but with abnormally huge horns. Horn Point.

Thirty seconds now having elapsed since Foxy had used his Noro Noro Beam, Robin finally came to. She looked and saw that, true to her expectations, her new charges had performed admirably, sweeping away the bulk of their foes. She looked and saw the unconscious Porche and Pickles, then looked at Luffy, and motioned towards their forms.

"Yosh!" Luffy said, and lashed out with his arms, grabbing the two and drawing them in. He then heaved them backwards over his head, shouting "Gum Gum Catapult!" and launched them away off the ship and onto the Sexy Foxy.

"Let's get out of here!" the crew of the Sexy Foxy was heard shouting. "Get away from them! They're monsters!" The Sexy Foxy then went underway, speeding off far quicker than a ship of its size should.

"See?" Robin said happily. "You make a great team, don't you."

Sanji was standing eye-to-eye with Zoro, glaring at him. "I suppose so."

"Like I needed you to take down that giant anyway," Zoro responded.

"What's that?" Sanji said combatively.

"Yosh!" Luffy said again, and stepped between the two of them. "We'll all go with Robin Oneechan to adventure!"

"To adventure!" Usopp and Chopper shouted in unison.

"To adventure!" Nami said, with her head filled with visions of 10,000 Beli notes.

"To adventure!" Sanji then shouted, his head filled with visions of Nami's beauty.

"To adventure…" Zoro said somewhat reluctantly.

Robin looked at them all as they began to mingle, the bonds of camaraderie already beginning to form among her new nakama. She felt glad that she would have comrades, and that she would be able to observe them grow in their capabilities. It was an almost maternal feeling, and made her feel better than she had in a long time, long since she had sold her soul and the Ohara lineage out to the government. _"Yes,"_ she thought with a smile on her face, _"to adventure!"_

_Read it? Review it please! I might have laid it on a bit thick in parts, overplaying Luffy's childishness and maybe overplaying the mother-children kind of relationship that Robin has with the other Straw Hats. Might make this a series, if there's any interest when I get around to it. Too little time in my life, and I already have an idea for a more Zoro-centric fic. Cheers._


	2. Okemong Island

CP6's Adventure on Okemong Island

By Mr_Khan

_Alas, I now feel compelled to continue what I have started, despite my original idea to step away from CP6 and do a Zoro-centric fic. This one's less about story development, and more about the action, similar to the One Piece movies, though it does fit in with the story of CP6. I'll also try my hand at creating some one-shot villains._

All of a sudden, the ship lurched, and Nami awoke. This time, however, she knew exactly where she was. She was aboard the _Hana Hana_, a mid-sized ship of the line modified from the standard design of the Navy. A custom ship built to suit the unique needs of Cipher Pol 6. It was the same ship on which she had experienced the momentary terror of imprisonment, but she was not quartered in those Spartan cells hidden beneath the deck, but rather in a relatively lavish room equipped with all that she could have desired as a navigator. Certainly better than anything she had gotten with Arlong at Cocoyashi, though she didn't like to think of that, being so happy while her old friends still suffered under Arlong's reign, far away back in the East Blue.

She stretched, yawned broadly, and quickly changed and made an appearance on deck. It was still early, but the weather in this part of the Grand Line was rather peculiar, and the sky was already clear. She looked on her wrist at the Log Pose that Robin had given her, then compared that with the position of the sun. Yes, they were on course. She looked in the direction that the Log Pose's needle pointed, but then saw something rather disturbing.

"_Idiot swordsman,"_ she thought. _"Why exactly do we make him our lookout all the time?"_ She scaled the mainmast and reached the crow's nest, and then came upon the sleeping figure of Roronoa Zoro. She gave him a good smack on the head.

"Oi!" Zoro yelled. "What the hell was that for?"

"Why are we so much closer to our destination than we should be?" Nami yelled. "Look," she pointed out to sea at a small figure on the horizon, "you can see Okemong Island right there! The wind must have picked up through the night, and you slept right through it and didn't tell me? Idiot!" She hit him again. "What if there had been some catastrophe? A storm? A sea-king?"

Zoro yawned. "Don't see what you're so worried about," he said. "We got there faster than we were supposed to." He stood up, and leapt down onto the deck.

Nami growled. None of them entirely understood her when it came to the province of navigation. Even Robin, in all her mature grace, failed to grasp the precision with which navigation should be undertaken. It would only be a few hours now, instead of the 10-12 hours from dawn that she had estimated before she had gone to bed. Nothing more for her to do, then. Perhaps she could just slip down to the galley and pilfer a breakfast before that love-cook got up. Quickly, catlike, she moved to the rear of the ship, inward and past the suite she shared with Robin. She slid past the galley door, barely making a noise, but…

"Good morning, Nami-swaaaaan!" she was met by Sanji's head-over-heels advance.

"_Damn,"_ she thought. She was a bit too annoyed to deal with his lovesickness right now.

"Here is your breakfast, mes amour!" he said, setting before her a china plate delicately arranged with toast and an omelet fit for a princess, with a tall glass of mikan juice adorned with some tropical flower.

"_Being an idol has its perks, I suppose,"_ she thought. She thanked him for the breakfast, which sent him into transports of delight. She then proceeded back to the deck, where she would wait for Robin to emerge, so that she could report to Robin their progress towards the island.

Such a report, of course, should be something delivered to the Captain. But Luffy had defied that title more or less since he had encouraged them all to follow "Robin Oneechan" as he called her. Robin was the veteran World Government agent here, but she consistently referred to Luffy as Captain, and even deferred to him at times, though she still ran the show. Luffy spent most of his time perched above the ships' head, or fishing. He had certainly been an exemplary fighter in the few scrapes they had had with pirates, but that made him more hired muscle than Captain.

*

Even in the handful of weeks that they had been together, Sanji's morning already ran like clockwork. Nami was always first, who preferred something with orange in it. Then came that meathead Zoro, who was fine with anything as long as he was subsequently drowned in ale. Robin generally came third, soon joined by Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper all in a group. Robin, bless her, was content merely with coffee and some sort of accompanying cake. Luffy, curse him, often ate everything in sight. Usopp preferred fish, though his taste was rather finicky and elusive, a real challenge for a cook. Chopper was similar to Zoro (whom he idolized), but instead of alcohol, his side of choice was sugar.

*

Despite the recent upheavals in all of their lives, they had all settled into quiet routine within weeks. A handful of pirate attacks were the only break from the monotony, at least until today. Because of that, everyone ate their breakfast in a manner somewhat more subdued than normal. Anticipation had deadened them, instead of enlivening them.

Their den-den mushi rang, and Robin walked over and picked it up.

"Yes?" she asked into the mouthpiece. The den-den mushi had been modified so that it whispered straight into her ear, instead of talking for all to hear. "No, we have arrived. It will be done in 24 hours at most," she assured whoever was on the other side. She never told them, even when Luffy pried at her for the information.

An hour or so later, they had all gathered on the deck, and were watching as the _Hana Hana_ sailed in closer to Okemong Island. They had altered course just slightly so that they would avoid a rock that stuck out a few hundred feet from the shore. As they passed, they saw what appeared to be strange symbols covering the rock.

"Can you read them, Robin-chwan?" Sanji asked.

"Yes, but you can, too," Robin replied. "Those are letoglyphs, developed after the poneglyph, and which led to our modern alphabet. If you look very closely, you can see that they closely resemble our alphabet."

"Oh? Coooool!" Luffy said, and he seized some binoculars away from Nami to focus in on the rock. "It says, "Do not stray on this island, sacred place of the Okemong. The spirits of our tribe will dwell here long, and will not tolerate trespassers." Hahahahahaha! he laughed. "I wonder what these Okemong are like?"

"I can't go!" Usopp raised his arm suddenly. "I'm severely allergic to ghosts!"

"Ghosts?!?" Chopper shouted, then screamed.

"Fine," Robin replied. "You can stay here."

"Alone," Sanji added.

"And defend the ship if the Okemong come," Zoro finished.

Usopp swallowed nervously. The ship had passed the rock by now and was just closing in on the shallows. Chopper morphed into human form and dropped the anchor, and the ship came up short.

"Yosh!" Luffy said confidently. "Let's go!" He leapt down onto the island. They had landed on a spacious, white sandy beach that was bounded on both ends by coastal rocks, the only visible landing point on that side of the island. At the far end of the beach, there were also rocks, with but a single footpath leading into the island's forested interior. The forest was large, with a ring of hills surrounding an interior valley, or so some very old maps claimed.

*

They were assembled on the beach, with Chopper nosing about in the sand, trying to catch an elusive scent. "Hey, Chopper," Sanji inquired, "what do you smell?"

"It's weird," Chopper said. "It smells kinda like makeup."

"Okay," Robin interjected. "The Poneglyph should be inside the forest, in the central valley. I don't know exactly what we'll find, between rumors of underground operatives and other rumors of ghosts, but we should be prepared for anything. Find the surface the poneglyph is on, then destroy it."

"Should be easy," Nami commented.

"In all likelihood, yes," Robin replied. So they set off, with Luffy jogging ahead, an eager look on his face. The rest came together in a bunch, while Usopp stayed to the rear, nervously picking his way forward. Luffy eventually gained the footpath, and the others were close behind.

"Trespassers!" A chorus of voices suddenly roared. "Violators of the sacred island!" CP6 suddenly found themselves surrounded. Ahead and behind, their way were blocked by a dozen savages. Some bore torches, all were adorned with animal skins, mostly boar, but wolf in a few cases, and deerskin in one case. They also all had loincloths. Their armaments varied heavily with bow and arrow, spear, club, daggers, and even a sword or two in evidence.

"The Okemong," Robin said.

"Ghosts!" roared Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy in unison, though Luffy roared with more excitement than fear. Nami cringed, while Zoro and Sanji assumed ready stances. One of the savages came forward, a short, angry-looking man in a deerskin pelt, which struck particular fear into Chopper's heart.

"Trespassers!" the man said. "For your transgressions, you shall be sacrificed."

"You think you can take us?" Zoro asked belligerently, edging one of his katana forth from its sheath.

"Werecrab!" roared the savage's spokesman.

"Werecrab werecrab werecrab werecrab!" the others chanted, and began to beat out a rhythm on the ground with their various weapons. In response, something burst forth from the ground.

The Werecrab was a large creature, about three times the size of a man. It had a vaguely human face set in the hard, red crab-skin. Its abdomen was shaped just like a normal crab, only much larger, but a human-like torso stuck out of the crab abdomen, a torso coated in the crab skin, where the human head was set, as well as its formidable pincers. The Werecrab hissed at them, and clacked its pincers menacingly.

"Oversized shellfish, eh?" Sanji said, taking a puff on his cigarette and stretching his legs. "I think I can fry him up." He stepped forward, but the Werecrab moved like lightning and seized Sanji up in one of its pincers. The Werecrab held Sanji well out from its body, so that Sanji's lethal legs could not find the Werecrab's red hide. The Werecrab then rapidly scurried away.

"Sanji!" Luffy yelled, but before he could even react, the werecrab was gone past the coastal rocks and was out of sight. "Oi!" he then yelled at the Okemong. "What did you do with him?"

"The Werecrab shall eat the interloper," the Okemong spokesman declared. "Leave this island, lest you share his fate."

"Like hell!" Luffy responded. He began spinning his arm around quickly. "Gum Gum…."

"You have been warned!" the spokesman interrupted. Then with a bright flash of light, the Okemong were gone.

"We have to split up. One group to find Sanji, the rest to continue with the mission." To the shock of everyone present, the speaker of this level-headed, perfectly reasoned suggestion was Luffy.

Robin suddenly spoke as if coming out of a trance. "Yes, of course. Well done."

"_Whoa,"_ Usopp thought. _"Luffy is showing initiative. Is the sky going to fall next?"_ The group of them walked inland, under the cover of the trees. The path was well-established, marked on its edge by white stones. Now they were all more wary, and moved cautiously.

*

Away in the center of the island, things looked very different. The Okemong spokesman approached a trailer, a double-long wagon that was branded on the side with "The Legendary Satoko of the Juuichiji Players." The spokesman knocked on the door, "Satoko-san! Satoko-san!" The door to the trailer opened, and out stepped a tall, strongly-built figure. He had a chiseled face, proud brown hair, and a well-toned body. His clothing consisted only of a lustrous black cape, a loin cloth, and sandals. Strapped across his back was a huge, double-edged sword.

"And lo! The great tribal chieftain comes forth to address the concerns of his people!" he said in an overly dramatic, lyrical singsong voice. "What is their plight? To what end do they seek my help?"

The spokesman looked exasperated. "Damnit Boss, drop the act! Intruders have gotten into the forest! We gotta get serious! Get in contact with Miserevich and his archaeologists!"

A vein pulsed in Satoko's forehead. "We don't break character, damnit! That's how we get serious! We're the Juuichiji Mercenary Players! The essence of drama is conflict, and we embody drama through our conflict. Now, I'll go back in my trailer, and you knock on the door again, and you play your role right this time!"

So Satoko went back inside the trailer, and the spokesman sighed, and knocked again. "Chief Satoko! Chief Satoko!"

And again, with even more emphasis on each word, Satoko opened the trailer door and said, "And lo! The great tribal chieftain comes forth to address the concerns of his people! What is their plight? To what end do they seek my help?"

The spokesman stammered momentarily. "Uhh, forsooth, uhh, sire, trespassers hath violated our, uhh, noble realm. The Werecrab only managed to get one of them, and the rest come quickly. Should we alert our, uhh, noble guests at the, uhh, sacred ruins of our people?"

"_Amateur,"_ Satoko thought angrily. "Zounds!" he then shouted in alarm. "Invaders in the Fane! Send messengers, swift as the breeze, down to our noble guests at the ruins! Marshal our fighters, and we shall go forth to confront them!"

"Yes, chief!" the spokesman said, having finally regained his composure. "I shall go swift as the breeze!" He then ran over to a neighboring trailer and burst in. Inside, the others of the so-called "Okemong," who were actually the Juuichiji Players, were scattered about. Some were liberally re-applying makeup to make their skin appear more tan, having sweated it off on the steamy island. Others were trying out some of the lines Satoko had written for them, trying to stay in character. Still more were rummaging through piles of weapons, trying to find something that suited them. "We got trouble, guys," he told them. "Those intruders that we ambushed are still coming in. Satoko-san wants us to go stop them." He walked over to two who seemed to be better built for running. "You two go in to the ruins and tell Miserevich and his archaeologists that danger is coming. The rest, go with Satoko-san. But stay in character, boss is in a bad mood today."

"Alright!" the Players roared in unison, and piled out of the trailer. They left their spokesman alone.

"The life of a mercenary actor," he sighed, and poured himself some coffee.

*

Back outside, the Players had arrayed themselves around their Boss, all fully in character. "Alright, men!" Satoko roared, looking regal in his cape. "We must go forth! Battle and glory, and honor in death! Defend the homeland with your blood! For the Okemong!"

"Okemong! Okemong! Okemong!" chanted the players in unison. It was a great show of getting whipped up into a blood frenzy.

*

It was quiet in the forest. Too quiet. It made Roronoa Zoro uneasy. Something was up with these so-called "spirits," that was for sure. Zoro was, and had been, rather bored by the whole affair. He had been bored since he had been abducted, then voluntarily went along with the journey. Sure, there had been those run-ins with pirates, but nothing worse than he had dealt with back in the day when he had roamed the seas, hunting two-bit pirates to get by. The booze was good, but he wasn't getting what he wanted: a challenge. He was walking along with the rest of them, gazing idly into the forest, when his luck finally changed. "Wait," he said suddenly, bringing the rest up short. "Someone's coming."

There was a sound of wind rustling through the leaves of the trees, and then a few flashes of light and smoke, and suddenly they were surrounded again. Some of those surrounding them were the same as before, while there were a few new faces, including one that caught Zoro's eye. The man was about a full head taller than the pirate hunter, with a fine red cape, and an even finer looking sword. It was the look in the man's eye that caught Zoro's attention, though. A look of steel, of determination, a look of a true swordsman.

"You were foolish to come, intruders," Satoko said. "Was it not enough that your friend was taken by the Werecrab?"

"Bastard!" Luffy yelled. "You give Sanji back!"

"We have no control over the Werecrab. You would have done well to be more wary," Satoko said. "But it is too late for you. I am the great Satoko, incomparable Chief of the Okemong! All of you will die here, now, by the hands of myself and the great Okemong nation!" The Okemong roared their approval.

"Why you…" Luffy said truculently, swinging his arm around and preparing for a fight.

"Wait," Zoro interrupted, suddenly stepping in front of Luffy. For the first time since he had arrived, Zoro undid the bandana from around his arm and donned it upon his head. He put a katana in his mouth and smiled. "Leave this one to me."

"Yosh!" Luffy said approvingly, clapping Zoro on the back. "Then we'll go on ahead," he said, motioning towards Robin and Nami. "You two go find Sanji," he finished, pointing towards Usopp and Chopper. They all nodded, somewhat dumbly, shocked again at Luffy's show of initiative. Suddenly, Luffy extended his arm and looped in both Nami and Robin close to him. He then shot his free arm forward, grabbing a tree well past the ring of Okemong. Suddenly, Usopp and Chopper found themselves alone with Zoro in the ring of Okemong.

For a time, both sides simply stood there indecisively. Usopp and Chopper were too scared to try to run, afraid that Satoko would try to stop them. The Okemong were too scared to attack, afraid that this menacing, green-haired pirate would cut them down.

"The green-haired devil is mine!" Satoko said. "Kill the spares, my countrymen!"

"Aye!" responded the Okemong as one.

"Chopper?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah?" Chopper replied.

Then Usopp began screaming, and Chopper began screaming too. Chopper morphed into his reindeer form, and he and Usopp both ran out through the ring and into the woods, dashing among the trees.

"After them!" shouted some of the Okemong, who quickly set off in pursuit, leaving Zoro and Satoko alone at last. Satoko drew his sword, and leapt forward with a downward strike at Zoro, and Zoro drew two of his swords, crossed them, and blocked the downward stroke.

*

Ahead in the forest, Luffy, Nami, and Robin continued to follow the path into the woods, and approached a fork in the path.

"Now which way?" Nami asked, more directed at Robin than at Luffy.

"Wait, what?" Robin said, somewhat confused.

"_So absent-minded today. What's wrong with her?"_ Nami thought.

"Let's take a look!" Luffy said suddenly, breaking the awkward silence. Again, he used one arm to grab Nami and Robin close, and grabbed the top of a nearby tree with another. In an instant, they were up a hundred feet or so in the air, with the whole island spread below to see. The fork to the left led in towards a set of ruins.

"There!" Robin said, pointing.

"Yosh!" Luffy said, and he lashed out again, this time targeting the ruins. Suddenly, they found themselves in the midst of a number of old ruins, weathered by age. Most of them looked to be temples arranged for some sort of ancient, unknown deities. They walked along what had been a proud avenue, long, long ago. Robin was awestruck.

"In their time, the Okemong had been one of the greatest societies in the Grand Line, rivaling even the Golden City of Shandra," she said as she walked up to a column and ran her fingers down its intricate surface.

"Don't touch, baka!" a voice suddenly came. Out of nowhere, a figure had leapt down from somewhere higher up in the ruins, and had slapped her in the back of the head as he landed. He said "baka" just as he made contact with the back of her head. He had short-cropped, messy blond hair, a long, fine frock coat, and a pair of boots equipped with springs on the sole.

"Oi!" Luffy shouted at this new figure. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I am Professor Nikolai Miserevich, Archaeologist extraordinaire," the new figure said. "And I alone am going to solve the mystery of the Poneglyphs. No one's going to steal this from me!"

"We're here to stop you," Luffy said resolutely.

During this little exchange, Nami had been watching Robin. Robin had been looking around, a look of quiet fear, which seemed to be mounting into full-blown panic. Robin cast about in all directions, apparently unfamiliar with everything around her. Nami gave her a reassuring look, intended to try and console her. Instead, her panic seemed to deepen. Robin shook.

"What have you done to Robin?" Nami suddenly interjected. At this, however, Robin broke into full-blown panic, giving a slight scream, then running and hiding behind a column.

"Robin?" Nami asked, running over to her. Robin again reacted with fear, trying to climb up the column frantically, but failing. However, she continued trying.

"Gruhahahaha!" Miserevich laughed. "That's just the power of my devil's fruit, the baka baka no mi. I hit her on the back of her head, and now she's too stupid to sort out friends from enemies, speak, or run away properly, let alone smart enough to sort out the Poneglyph."

"Monster!" Luffy shouted. "You fix her!"

"Baka!" Miserevich said, "I'll just let you join her in blissful idiocy."

"_Not like he has that far to go,"_ Nami thought to herself.

"You just try it!" Luffy said in challenge, winding up his arm and preparing to fight.

"Gladly," Miserevich replied, making a slapping motion with his hand.

*

Back in the forest, Usopp and Chopper were still running. Usopp had become more acutely aware of his flaws after being abducted and subsequently electing to work among these crazy fighters. Usopp was a liar, and therefore, a thinker. He could adapt to given situations, but it took more time for him than the reckless Luffy or the well-trained Zoro. In the meantime between being given a problem and thinking of a solution, all he could do was run. He was shocked that Chopper was running too. Usopp thought he wouldn't need to run if he had Chopper's degree of power. Chopper was a bit more panicky than he was, but still, he could morph into a monolith of fur and muscle, what more could you need? Suddenly, Usopp found he was lagging behind as Chopper pulled ahead. These Okemong were fast, though, svelte and athletic, and they were catching up, the fastest runners were out front wielding spears.

Usopp then had an idea. It was a little cruel, but maybe it would prompt Chopper to use some of that power. As he ran amongst the trees, Usopp pulled out a ketchup packet, then deliberately tripped on a root and burst the packet against his chest. He fell full-on, and lay still.

"Oi, we got him!" one of the Okemong shouted, and the front-runners gathered around Usopp's fallen frame. Chopper turned, and saw his fallen nakama.

"Usopp!" Chopper yelled. Then he pulled out a small yellow ball and swallowed it, "Rumble!" Chopper then morphed, with his antlers becoming huge, and he surged towards the closely gathered Okemong, scattering most of them in one pass. The few that remained, a few straggles wielding swords and clubs, gathered around Chopper in a ready stance.

"You're going to pay for that, reindeer!" They shouted, but even as they moved in towards Chopper, two of them were shot in the face with Usopp's gunpowder stars. Four remained, two of whom went for Usopp, and were cut down by more gunpowder stars. Two more went for Chopper, but Chopper morphed to Heavy Point and grabbed both of them, bashing the two together.

"Usopp! I thought you were dead!" Chopper shouted.

"Ahh, that is just what I wanted you to think. All part of my brilliant plan," Usopp replied.

"So awesome!" Chopper said, awestruck.

*

Away along the rocky shore, the Werecrab approached a cave. It had cautiously borne Sanji all the way, holding him out far enough that his lethal black leg could not strike home on the Werecrab's body. After a time, Sanji tired of struggling. The Werecrab finally came upon a small cave, its home, and stepped in. However, in order to step through the narrow cave gateway, the Werecrab had to retract its claw, and Sanji pounced, cracking part of the Werecrab's shell with a heavy kick. The Werecrab shrieked, an oddly human sound, and dropped Sanji. The Werecrab retreated away from the cave.

"Oh no," Sanji said menacingly, "You're not getting away from me! Nami-swan and Robin-chwan will feast on crab legs tonight!" He leapt upwards, aiming a kick at the Werecrab's human-shaped upper torso. The Werecrab scuttled backwards, just out of reach. When Sanji landed, he had to dodge out of the way of the Werecrab's huge foreclaw, which came crashing down. He kicked again, but the Werecrab blocked with its claw. The Werecrab struck again, and Sanji did a back-flip to dodge out of the way. As he flipped away, his cigarette fell out onto the wet, coastal rocks. Sanji stepped back, while the Werecrab assumed a defensive stance, and Sanji pulled out another cigarette, as well as a match.

Upon striking the match, the Werecrab gave a short hop of fear, then scuttled backwards a short distance, its human eyes focusing on the small flame of the match.

"Ahh," said Sanji, "you're afraid of getting cooked, shitty crab?" Sanji grabbed a piece of driftwood up off the ground, then tore a length of his own sleeve off, and wrapped it around. Sanji then used a match to light the cloth, and form a torch. He stepped forward, and the Werecrab scuttled back. He stepped again, and again the Werecrab scuttled back. Then Sanji started to run full-tilt towards the Werecrab, and the Werecrab fled in the direction Sanji was chasing it: Inland and into the forest.

*

Roronoa Zoro was smiling a broad, wolfish grin as he dodged out of the way of Satoko's huge sword. Zoro slashed at Satoko with two of his katana, but Satoko blocked.

"It's been a long time since I've fought someone with such satisfaction," Zoro said.

"I was thinking the same thing, trespasser devil," Satoko replied. Satoko then took his great sword, and stuck it straight forward. Zoro was unable to block this straight stab, and narrowly dodged out of the way.

"Oh-ho!" Satoko laughed. "So you can't block with your puny little swords if I stab!" Then he stepped back, drawing his sword back the full length and focused his mind and body. "Tiger Leap Strike!" he roared, stabbing the full length of his sword straight forward with great speed as a ghostly image of a tiger appeared around his great sword.

Time seemed to slow for Roronoa Zoro then, just as it often did when he truly immersed himself in the art of swordsmanship. He was pleased that he had discovered a flaw in his technique, that he was unable to block stabs from great swords. This sort of learning was essential for his growth as a swordsman. Just because he couldn't block them, however, did not mean he couldn't counter them. He assumed a ready stance, preparing the ultimate technique that he had cultivated for the Santoryuu style.

"Santoryuu: Sanzen Sekai!" (Three-sword style: Three thousand realms), and Zoro lunged forward, past Satoko's stab and past Satoko himself. With the technique complete, Zoro stepped back, and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He hadn't come through unscathed, then, but had dodged the bulk of Satoko's stab. He turned, and saw Satoko lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from two wounds which crossed his chest to make a perfect plus sign.

"I don't need to block," he said, as he put his katana away.

*

Back at the interior ruins, Miserevich began bouncing rapidly on his spring-heeled boots. "Get ready for a world of blissful idiocy, Straw-hat!" He launched off the ground, and began bouncing around the avenue, from ruin to ruin. Luffy watched in fascination.

"Cooool!" he said, then he launched off the nearest pillar and began bouncing around too. They both shot around randomly for a bit, then Miserevich stopped.

"Damnit! You're not supposed to bounce around like that, how can I get the back of your head?"

"Na?" Luffy asked, as he stopped bouncing about, standing with his back to Miserevich.

"Got you, Baka!" he said. He then launched forward towards the back of Luffy's head.

"You want the back of my head?" Luffy said, he then shot his head forward, stretching his neck. "Then take it!" and as he said this, his head shot back, crashing into Miserevich as he leapt forward. Miserevich flew into a nearby pillar and hit it with jarring impact, then slumped to the ground, knocked spark out.

"Luffy, bring him over here," Nami said. She had managed to calm Robin down, and was standing there with her, holding her hand comfortingly, "see if we can fix her." Luffy dragged his prostrate form over to them, but then…

*

"Oi, shitty crab!" Sanji yelled. "Come on, let me cook you!" Sanji had been chasing the Werecrab with his torch for some time, constantly driving it inland. He wouldn't admit it to that damn moss-head, but Sanji didn't have the best sense of direction either. He did know, however, that he would eventually hit the path that ran through the woods, and then regroup with his crew, perhaps.

Eventually Sanji chased the Werecrab to the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ruins of the Okemong. The Werecrab stopped at the edge of the cliff, but kept its eyes fixed on the torch fearfully. Sanji grinned maliciously, and thrust the torch forward. The Werecrab stepped back, and fell off the cliff.

*

Suddenly, the Werecrab fell from above, bouncing off the roof of a nearby temple, and landing near Luffy. Seeing it, Luffy looked around, and saw Sanji standing on the cliff in the distance.

"Oi, Sanji!" he yelled, "You're okay!"

"Yeah!" Sanji yelled back, "I got the Werecrab!"

Luffy walked over to the Werecrab, dragging Miserevich along with him, "Can you make crab legs?" Luffy yelled back.

"Idiot!" Nami said, and hit Luffy on the head. "Get back to fixing Robin!"

"Na?" Luffy spun around, and Miserevich's body swung around, with his hand striking the dazed and fallen figure of the Werecrab in the front of its head.

"Wait. Is it you, Miserervich?" the Werecrab suddenly said.

"What?!?" Everyone present yelled. "You can talk?!?"

"Of course I can!" the Werecrab yelled. "What do I look like?" Then it looked at itself. "Oh…" it said. Then it shifted shape, to reveal a middle-aged man with scraggly black hair and a short black beard. "My name is Martin Jack, I ate the Crab Crab Fruit. I'm an archaeologist," he said. "I was working with Miserevich and his team, until Miserevich betrayed me. He made me an idiot, to the point where I couldn't control my Zoan powers and just ran around as a crab."

"Then how did you come back to normal?" Nami asked.

"Miserevich's devil fruit activates when he hits someone in the back of the head. If he hits someone in the front of the head, it goes back to normal," Martin said.

"I see," Nami said. She then grabbed Miserevich's unconscious form, and dragged him over to Robin. Robin looked a little panicky, but with a reassuring touch from Nami, she calmed down. Nami raised Miserevich's hand, and hit Robin in the front of the head.

*

Nico Robin sat on a chair on the deck of the Hana Hana as it headed away from Okemong island. The whole affair had been rather hard to believe, between the drama with Martin Jack and the Mercenaries that Miserevich had hired to scare people away from Okemong Island while he worked to decipher the poneglyph.

But the one thing that stuck in her mind was how Martin Jack had begged her to reconsider, even unto the last second before she used her Cien Fluer to destroy the great tablet that contained the poneglyph. All his arguments were arguments that she often pondered, when she wondered whether she was on the right path. She was destroying history, irreplaceable history. No matter how dangerous it was, she had a duty to preserve it.

"Robin-chwan! I made you some coffee!" Sanji set a steaming cup of coffee on the table next to her.

Robin smiled at Sanji, while she wondered again for the umpteenth time whether she needed to rethink her entire life.

_(Authors Note): Definitely ran a little long, but I couldn't figure out how to cut this chapter up, and wanted to tell the story in its entirety. The next one (whenever it arrives), will be shorter, and much more focused on Robin's ultimate decision. The basic plot was somewhat inspired by Scooby-Doo, with someone going to great lengths to try and scare people away from a given location while they try and do something there, but it came together well enough. The name "Miserevich" is a sort of hybrid. "Misr," is what the Egyptians themselves call Egypt, and "evich" is a Slavic suffix meaning "son of," so it's a very twisted way to say "Son of Egypt," a fitting name for an archaeologist. The other names are just random and meaningless._

_Reviews are greatly appreciated =)_


	3. Robin's Choice

Robin's Choice: CP6 in Alabasta

By Mr_Khan

_Definitely took me a long time to get back to this. Almost a year since Okemong Island, a year filled with my launch of a SWAT Kats prequel series (with 3 entries to date), and my best-reviewed story so far, Robin Falls, as well as a venture into the dim world of Deviant Art. Well, it's time to get back on track. It seems like every One Piece fic I write ends up Robin-focused, but that suits me fine. She doesn't get enough love around here =)_

"Hot, hot, hot!" Luffy wheezed, his arms stretching and sagging to the ground, sizzling when his hands came in contact with the baking sand. "Yow! Why does it have to be so hot?" Luffy's complaints were met with a rock, which clacked off the back of his head.

"Honestly!" Nami shouted, "I am sick of your complaining!"

"As if you've had to deal with this damn sand," Zoro muttered. A fair comment, since Nami had been astride Eyelashes the whole time, she and Robin being the only two of them that the bad-tempered camel would consent to bear.

"Oi! What was that, shit-for-brains?" Sanji roared, planting the sole of his shoe against Zoro's head. "You want to apologize to Nami-swan?"

"And you're going to make me, ero cook?" Zoro returned. Then a loud roar was heard, and Zoro and Sanji were seized by their necks, then their heads were bashed together.

"Will you two shut up already?" Chopper barked aggressively, holding them by their necks with his gorilla-like arms. "You're not making things any easier!"

"Geez, Chopper," Usopp interjected. "This heat's really getting to you, isn't it?"

Chopper turned on him, still clutching Sanji and Zoro. "You want some too, long-nose?" Usopp yelped as Chopper advanced on him. All of them, however, were bulled out of the way as Luffy charged forward.

"Cooooool!" Luffy shouted. "Look at that city!"

"That's Alubarna," Robin said. "Our target."

"But it's a kingdom, right?" Sanji asked. "Shouldn't they just let us through? They're with the world government."

"They might not cooperate," Robin said calmly. "The nations that have poneglyphs consider them national treasures."

"Right. So we're here to make sure they do what they're supposed to," Zoro said.

"Yes," Robin said, putting on somewhat of a brave smile. But she was not at peace with her way of life. In fact, doubt had been growing in her heart in the four months since Okemong Island. The World Government had convinced her that she was the only one who could save the world, by destroying the last links to the old societies: the societies that had made the super-weapons. Information was powerful, she had learned back at Ohara, and the poneglyphs were an evil power. But as she had ranged the world at the government's behest, finding and destroying these evils, she had seen so many people that reminded her of the idealists she had known in her youth: of Clover, and her mother. Martin Jack was just the latest of those, someone who believed that preserving history was a moral prerogative; something that needed to be done, and that it was her destroying the information that was the real evil. She was trying to reassure herself that what she was doing the right thing on this mission, but her doubt was growing.

*

They approached the gates of Alubarna, walking in a group up the clean, white stairs, and saw that a regiment of over a hundred Alabasta soldiers had been set at the top.

"Oi oi," Sanji said, looking at Robin. "Are we going to have to deal with them?"

"It looks more like an honor guard," Nami said. Which was true; the guards were in fine dress uniform, and their strange, bladed partisans were adorned with flowers. As they continued to climb the stairs, two unique figures came into view at the fore of the mass of soldiers. There was a shorter, pretty girl with sky-blue hair, with a huge, severe-looking man with white hair set in massive locks standing to her side. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, they reached those figures.

"Welcome," the girl said, bowing low before them. "My name is Nefertiri Vivi, princess of this kingdom. You must be the officials from the World Government, Cipher Pol number 6."

"Nico Robin, director of Cipher Pol 6," Robin said, jumping off of Eyelashes and likewise bowing.  
"My name is Luffy! Nice to meet you!" Luffy suddenly bounded forward, grasping Vivi's hand and shaking it warmly. The white-haired man seemed to take objection to this.

"Do you think you can just approach her highness like that?"

Vivi smiled at him, "Igaram! You don't need to be so protective." She hadn't seen anything yet.

"What do you think you're doing!" Sanji shouted, kicking Luffy out of the way. Sanji knelt before her and seized her hand, kissing it warmly. "I apologize for my brutish friend, mes amour. I am Sanji, your humble prince." Suddenly Nami seized him by the ear and roughly shoved him out of the way.

"Have a little decency, will you?" Nami said irately. Vivi giggled.

"You guys sure are interesting," she said. "This should be fun! Come on, there's a feast at the palace."

"Feast!" roared Luffy, as he charged ahead.

*

"Impressive," Cobra said. "They should be most effective."

"Yes, your majesty," Chaka replied. "According to our intelligence, at least three of these CP6 guys have devil-fruit powers, but these sea-stone bullets should break through easily enough."

"Only if we can hit them, of course," Pell interjected. "Are you sure our snipers have been trained for this?"

"Definitely. We're ready for any trouble."

"Hopefully we won't need to be," Cobra put in gravely. "I'd hate to think that the World Government would actually be sending secret police around to destroy the poneglyphs. And if true, I would still like to avoid violence."

They were suddenly interrupted by an attendant. "Your majesty! Our guests have arrived. Director Nico Robin, Captain Monkey D. Luffy and Cipher Pol 6 await you."

"Nico Robin? Demon child of Ohara?" Chaka breathed. "Not a good sign."

"Let us just hope she is better than her nickname," Cobra said.

*

"You did the right thing leaving that Marimo behind, Robin-chwan," Sanji said amorously. "He doesn't have the table manners to do this sort of thing."

"If that were the case, shouldn't we have gotten rid of this one?" Usopp asked, glancing over at Luffy, who was currently drooling and straining to get at the table while Nami and Chopper forcibly held him back.

"Right," Robin said in her usual cheery-yet-dismissive tone. "But Captain-san is our Captain. He needs to be at a state dinner."

"You're going to regret it," Usopp said.

Cobra entered the long dining hall, followed by Chaka and Pell. The hall was open-air, situated out in one of the palace's fabulous gardens, with a roof providing shade supported by ornate columns. The hall had a long table, well-adorned with a vast array of dishes of every kind; Meat, fish, fruits, even a wide variety of desserts already in place.

"Bow, damnit!" Nami growled, trying to force Luffy's head down. "He's a king!"

"But… meat…" Luffy moaned.

"Welcome, Cipher Pol 6!" Cobra said in a booming voice, "Please, eat. I extend the hospitality of the Kingdom of Alabasta to you."

Nami and Chopper sighed in unison as they released their hold on Luffy, who tore towards the table. "Meat!" he roared, his arms becoming a blur as he grabbed at all the meats from one end of the table to the other.

"Oi oi," Sanji said, cuffing Luffy soundly on the head, "leave some for the rest of us, will yah?" Vivi laughed.

"It's fine, I hope you all like it as much as he does."

The feast proceeded apace, with everyone enjoying themselves thoroughly. Cobra sat at the head of the table, with Robin seated nearby. Luffy was where he had been, where he could most easily grab everything from all ends of the table. Sanji was seated across from him, almost as eager as Luffy to sample all of the exotic dishes, to try and sample all the facets of this royal spread. Vivi was seated at the opposite end of the table from her father, still attended by Igaram who stood behind her. On either side of her sat Usopp and Chopper, with Nami sitting next to Usopp. Usopp was already deep into another one of the epic tales of the Great Captain Usopp, which was keeping Vivi greatly entertained, but Igaram looked severely embarrassed.

"It has been some time since we have had such entertaining guests," Cobra said. "You really have a colorful group."

"Indeed," Robin replied, smiling, "they're not dull to have around."

"But if I may ask, what exactly is such a colorful group doing out here in Alabasta?"

Robin looked downcast. She had been dreading this moment, especially now as she watched her nakama enjoying Alabasta's hospitality. She had hoped at least to put it off, but she had heard that Cobra was quite a savvy ruler. "We're here to destroy the poneglyph," she finally said.

Cobra looked equally downcast. "I was afraid of that." He looked at Robin, seeing her doubt. "You don't have to do this you know."

"Shut up!" Robin roared suddenly, her pent-up frustration surfacing all at once. "What do you know about any of this?" Robin leapt to her feet suddenly, casting back the chair she had been seated in, and then many things seemed to happen at once. Her shouting had, of course, drawn the attention of everyone at the table, and thus everyone at the table saw what happened next. A poorly-aimed bullet shattered the plate that she had been eating from and left a hole in the table. In the confusion; Chaka, Pell, and Igaram all forgot about their snipers who were stationed all about, and simply reacted instinctively to the sudden shot.

"Get away from him!" Chaka shouted, as he morphed into his jackal form and leapt over Cobra's head and onto the table, scattering a few of the dishes as he turned and bared his fangs at Robin. Pell, too, leapt into the air, shifting smoothly into a hawk. Robin crossed her arms in preparation, but it was unnecessary. Not much could have distracted Luffy from meat, but this definitely qualified. His arm lashed out towards Chaka, but Chaka leapt to the side at the last second and instead sank his formidable jaws into Luffy's arm.

"Yow!" Luffy yelled, "leggo, leggo, leggo!" He shook his arm violently, and finally got Chaka off, then the situation devolved into chaos. Another bullet came in from nowhere, striking Luffy in the arm. It sank in. Actually having the bullet effect him was more of a shock to Luffy than the pain of it.

"Kairoseki?" Nami queried, standing up suddenly and looking around. "What's going on?"

"Get away, your highness!" Igaram roared, as he grabbed Vivi bodily and tossed her out of harm's way. "They must be stopped!" He seized the loops of his necktie, and suddenly fired off a spray of bullets from his great locks of hair, sweeping his head. Usopp, Nami, and Chopper leapt out of the way.

*

"Shitty hawk!" Sanji yelled, as the heel of his shoe made contact with Pell's head. Pell spiraled out of control, but only for a second, then regained his composure and struck back, his talons raking into Sanji's shoulder as he descended from his jump. Pell shrieked, then Chaka barked, and bowled into Sanji just as he landed.

"Hey," Chopper interjected, "did you hear that?"

"No," Usopp replied. "All I've heard are the bullets." He dodged out of the way as Igaram focused another stream of fire his way. Another bullet grazed the end of his nose as he landed; a bullet from another location. "Snipers!" he finally realized.

"This was a trap from the start!" Nami shouted, looking accusingly at Vivi. "Wasn't it?"

"No!" Vivi said, mortified. "My father wouldn't do anything like that!"

"Get out of here, princess!" Igaram continued. "They're dangerous!" Vivi finally fled, crying. Another shot rang out, and this time it was Sanji who grunted in pain, hit in the forearm. He then dodged out of the way as Pell dived at him again. Pell then proceeded to attack Luffy at the same time as Chaka. Luffy jumped just out of the way.

"Geez! Are you guys psychically linked?"

"Tres fluer!" Robin said, three of her arms appearing around Chaka's neck. Two bullets appeared out of nowhere yet again, striking two of her arms. "Augh!" Robin collapsed from the pain, but she had no time to spare. Pell had just left a nasty scratch in Sanji's back, and quickly moved to dive at Robin, who dodged out of the way. She jumped over next to Luffy, standing back-to-back with him.

"Robin!" Luffy said, as his arm lashed out and struck Pell. "This isn't right."

Robin gasped. She had known it, of course, and had known it for a long time. She had been able to brush it off when enemies had told her. When Martin Jack had told her, or Cobra just now. She had been able to brush it off because they were enemies, they were opposed to her, and would say anything to try to disturb her. She had reasoned their claims of morality away as just another attempt to undermine her efforts, though it had been a flimsy reasoning.

Luffy was different, however. He might be stupid, incredibly stupid at times, but he had that sense of unshakeable honesty and goodness about him. When he told her what she had known for some time, he tore through the thin veil that was shielding her from the reality that she did not want to face: that she _was_ a villain, who had sold herself out to the World Government. However, she was not yet ready to face that reality, so she ran. It was her last, futile attempt to try and separate herself from the horrible truth. Her enemies were not about to let her leave, though. Chaka jumped in front of her and bared his fangs.

"Rumble!" Chaka was tackled full-on by a fearsome set of antlers, and Chopper looked at Robin, who avoided his gaze assiduously and continued fleeing. "Robin! What's wrong?" Another bullet came in, aimed at his skull, but deflected by his Horn Point antlers. Robin ran off. "Robin!" Chopper called again.

"Leave her!" Luffy shouted, his voice sounding unusually stern. He was again shot in his forearm.

*

"We have to do something about these snipers!" Nami said.

"Yosh!" Usopp interjected. "Leave it to me!" It was Usopp's time to shine. He was good at playing mind games to get himself out of sticky situations: he needed to be, as it was the only way to get around his utter lack of skill in short-range combat. He had applied his mind games a number of times since CP6 had been formed, helping to defy clever enemies, but never before had he had a proper chance to really show his skill, a contest of sniping. He had seen the bullets coming in, and new exactly where their snipers were situated. From the patterns of fire, he figured there were only three of them. Child's play. He whipped out his slingshot and was about to take aim at the first, who was rather obviously hidden in a large urn populated by orchids. However, he was interrupted by Igaram, who clocked him over the head with a saxophone.

"You're not going to get the chance!" he said vengefully.

"Go, Usopp!" Nami shouted. "I'll deal with this one!"

"Really?" Igaram asked mockingly, "what trick do you have up your sleeve, girly?" Nami didn't entirely have an answer. She wasn't sure why she had bulled her way into this, to fight this man that she really didn't think she was capable of fighting. Most likely, she had been inspired by her nakama putting themselves on the line in this. Perhaps she felt guilty about never really having contributed in combat. She didn't have much time to think, either, as Igaram turned his saxophone on her, and began using it as a machine gun as well. She certainly couldn't run from an attack like that for very long. The adrenaline rushed to her head, putting her fertile brain to work. After a few seconds of running from the spray of machine gun fire, something clicked.

_A stream of bullets. Metal bullets. Metal. What about that thing Usopp made for me? Clima tact!_ Nami quickly pulled out the three sections of clima tact. _Which one?_ The first one just spit out these random blue orbs. _Not it._ The second one spit out these red orbs. _Damnit, Usopp, what's the use in this thing? _The third one had to be it, and it was. She felt elated when she tried it, or maybe that was tied to the electric shock it gave her. She pointed it outward, then charged it, and faced Igaram.

"Give up, eh? I'll make this quick!" Igaram pointed his saxophone towards her and fired. She leapt out of the way at the last second, but pointed the section of clima tact towards the stream of fire. The electric current arced out, and leaped from bullet to bullet, back towards the saxophone and into him. Igaram lit up with lightning, his ridiculous hairdo straightening, and four machine guns fell out. Igaram collapsed.

"Yosh!" Usopp said again. "Thanks, Nami." She looked around, and saw three unconscious snipers revealed in three disparate places around the garden. It had been Usopp's crowning moment, but it had been over so quick. Such was the nature of sniping, however: a hero's work was instantaneous.

_Not the snipers,_ Cobra thought. He had stayed in the midst of all this chaos, he felt it was his duty to see that the government agents were subdued only as necessary, as these people were not his enemies. _And Igaram too! More guards should have arrived by now, where are they?_

*

The guards in question had their hands full with just one of the agents of CP6. "Come on!" one of the guards said, "he's just one man, just rush him!" And so the guards massed yet again, knowing that it was futile, but having to try something. They charged as one, forming a phalanx with their bladed partisans, having no real hope that their efforts would subdue the green-haired demon that stood before them.

"Santoryuu: Tornado!" the guards scattered, thrust up into the air. Many of them did not get up again. Satisfied, Roronoa Zoro started running again down the endless avenues of Alubarna. "Palace, palace, where did they hide that damn palace?" He knew he was late. Robin had secretly tasked him to remain behind near the city gates, in case Cobra had been leading them into a trap. She had learned to trust him with tasks like this, since among the fellows of CP6, he was the only one who not only understood the moral ambiguity of what they were doing, but was willing to go along with it nonetheless. In some ways, her sharing in her moral uncertainty showed that she knew the swordsman well. In giving him this task, however, she showed that she really didn't know him all that well. "Damnit, why did they put all these streets in this city?"

He turned into a side alley, and found another trio of guards. "Get him!" They tried to attack him, but were quickly cut down. He ran into the next street, hoping that the palace would finally be here. It wasn't, but it turned out to be exactly where he needed to be anyway. He scanned the street carefully, senses attuned for the slightest sign of enemy presence, and then caught it. A strange, soft sound. He crept across the street and peered inside an abandoned merchant's stall, and saw a strange sight indeed. Nico Robin, completely broken down, curled up in a corner and crying.

"Robin?" he asked cautiously, not at all certain how he should broach this situation. "What are you doing?"

"What am I supposed to be doing?" she returned, with anger in her voice, but still crying.

"What?" said Zoro, now thoroughly confused.

Robin calmed somewhat. "All my life I've been trying to shed the name that they gave me: Demon of Ohara. I've been trying to do some good in the world. But everyone thinks I'm evil. Even Luffy said it. Is it me? Am I evil no matter what I try and do?"

Zoro sighed and leaned against the wall. He didn't need this emotional crap. Not from her, certainly. "Who the hell cares?" he said. Robin sobbed again, visibly hurt by his callous statement in her distraught state. He wasn't in the mood for this. "Look, you're a strong woman. You have to forge your own path in life. Who the hell cares what anyone thinks of you? Just do what _you_ think is right."

It made sense, at least. She was her own woman, Nico Robin, not the Demon Child of Ohara or anything else. Ultimately, her life was hers to live. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood.

"Thank you," she said. "I know what I need to do now." She stepped out of the merchant's stall, and began walking up the street. "And Kenshi-san," she said, her face lighting up with one of her old, enigmatic smiles. "This never happened. Okay?"

Zoro smiled. Nico Robin was back. "Right," he said, and followed her.

*

"Jump, Sanji!" Chopper barked. Sanji jumped up just in time, as Pell swept low, his talons cutting through the stone floor. Chopper heard a sharp bark behind him I'll get the reindeer. Hit him! He shifted to Jump Point and leapt into the air, dodging both Chaka whose jaw clamped down on the space he had just occupied, as well as Pell, whose talons tore through the air where his head had just been. He heard Pell shriek in dismay Are they reading our minds? It wasn't mind-reading at all, just that Chopper had figured out how Chaka and Pell were coordinating their attacks with such lethal accuracy: they were talking to each other, using the side-effect of their Zoan abilities to understand. They had not, of course, counted on another Zoan-fruit user cracking their code. With their coordination, they had managed to keep even Sanji and Luffy at bay, but without it, they were sitting ducks.

It's that damn reindeer! He can hear us! Chaka finally realized. Cut him down! Chopper shifted to Brain Point, and analyzed the situation in a split second. Pell had flown up near the ceiling to get momentum for a devastating attack from the air, while Chaka was charging straight towards him. Chopper turned so that he was facing Chaka dead-on, with his back turned to Pell. He had to wait half a second for this to work, so he held out perfectly, then shouted "Sanji, kick straight up!" Just as Pell passed above him, Sanji kicked straight upward, the toe of his shoe striking Pell perfectly on his chin. Pell was stunned, his wings collapsed and he fell to the ground heavily. At the same time, Chopper morphed back to Horn Point just as Chaka was within striking distance. Chaka could not stop himself, and ran straight into the horns, and was thrust backwards, badly wounded. "Luffy!" Chopper shouted.

"Yosh!" Luffy said, winding up his arm, "Gum Gum Pistol!" His arm lashed out, striking Chaka on the head, and he finally collapsed, defeated.

"Yatta! We won!" Usopp celebrated. He pointed at Cobra, who was still standing in the room, now dumbstruck at the defeat of his finest soldiers. "You should have known better than to mess with the great Captain Usopp of CP6!"

"But what do we do with him?" Sanji asked.

"We wait for Robin," Luffy said definitively as he walked over to the ruined remains of the feast on the table. He started eating again. "You're not going anywhere, right?" he asked Cobra.

"Uhh, no," said Cobra, further dumbfounded.

*

And that was the strange scene that Robin found on her return: Cobra standing around, not entirely certain what to do, the unconscious forms of Igaram, Chaka, Pell, and four snipers, Luffy stuffing his face at the great table, and the others standing around looking equally bemused. "Robin?" Nami said cautiously, unsure of Robin's mental state. "What are we going to do?"

"I know what we're going to do," Robin said resolutely. She then strode over to where Cobra still stood, when the odd scene was interrupted.

"Stop!" Vivi yelled, rushing into the room and coming between Robin and her apparent target. "You shouldn't have to do this! I won't let you!" All eyes were on Robin, awaiting her reaction. To the surprise of most, she smiled. "I need to see the poneglyph."

"Preserving the history of this kingdom is worth more than my life," Cobra replied, still confused by her demeanor.

"But I need to see it, if you want to have it translated," she returned. "I am the only one that can read them, after all."

Usopp was highly confused. "So, what exactly are we going to do?"

"The right thing," Robin said. "We'll go on an adventure to preserve the poneglyph. That is, if you're still willing to help me."

All were confused, except Luffy oddly enough. "Good job, Robin. Of course we'll still help you. But first," he turned towards Cobra. "Can you get some more meat? I'm still hungry!"

Cobra laughed. "Of course, we're happy to extend our hospitality to our guests!"

For the first time in a long, long while, Robin smiled a genuine smile.

_Hey, I actually got this one to be slightly shorter than its predecessor. This story has really been all over the place so far, from lighthearted nakama interaction, to action-adventure, then to something more focused on Robin's characterization. It's really not what I intended it to be, and I'm not sure I want to continue it. Depends on community reaction, so if you want to see more of the random adventures of CP6, you'll have to let me know =)_


End file.
